Episode 246: Anniversary Episode Emails
Date July 18, 2013 Summary On EW’s one-year anniversary, Ben and Sam chat with Jason Wojciechowski about baseball and copyright law, then answer other listener emails. Topics * Baseball copyright law * Good pitching vs. good hitting * Batter/pitcher matchups and Episode 241 follow-up * When to bring kids to a baseball game Intro Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, "Happy Birthday, Anniversary Too" Outro Episode outtake sound clip Banter It is Sam's birthday and the one year anniversary of Effectively Wild. Episode 1 was on July 18, 2012. Email Questions * David: "Have you two obtained express written consent from Major League Baseball before discussing or writing about baseball games? Do you obtain written consent for each specific game you want to talk about or write about, or have you asked for a blanket written consent to discuss and write about accounts of all baseball games? Either way, I'd love for you to post on the website a signed permission slip from Bud Selig. But hold on, can major league baseball grant blanket written consent? That seems to be counter to their disclaimer that you'd need express written consent to talk about the account of a game. Or maybe I'm not entirely clear what express means in this phrase. Does it mean quick? No it probably means explicit or distinct so I suppose MLB has some lawyer working full time devoting all of his time, granting all of the writers at Baseball Prospectus express written consent to discus accounts of each individual game every day of the season and pre and post season. Also, if i wanted to ask you a question on this podcast about something I noticed in a baseball game would you require me to show you written permission from MLB about my authorized ability to describe the account of the game? If not, aren't you sort of encouraging all of us to flagrantly disregard MLB's mandate? I'm very concerted that pretty soon Bud Selig is going to start cracking down on this and I want to make sure my favorite podcast and website are taking the necessary legal precautions to avoid some sort of hundred game suspension or whatever penalty Bud can impose." * David: "Let's say you have the perfect pitcher. He has an 80-fastball, 80-control, 80-command, 80-curve, 80-changeup, no flaws. He's not super human, he can't throw 150 MPH fastballs and his pitches do not break the laws of physics. Now let's say you have the perfect offensive player skims. My question is what would the batting and pitching lines be for each player if they played the same season's worth of at-bats/pitches against each other. Assume an adequate defense behind the pitcher." * Paul: "Your Ray Durham/Mariano Rivera discussion made me think about my favorite hitter/batter matchup, Johan Santana vs. Jhonny Peralta. Peralta hasn't gone hitless against him but he is 4-30 with 22Ks. I always think of this matchup whenever it is said that we should ignore these kind of matchups of small sample sizes over several years etc. but clearly Peralta has no chance again Johan, right?" * John: "I'm the proud father of a two-month old girl. I love her to death but I haven't been to a game yet this year and I'm missing live baseball like crazy. At what age is it acceptable, advisable, appropriate to take a child to a professional baseball game?" Notes * Jason notes that the 'express written consent' disclaimer does not enhance the copyright protection MLB has over its product. * Sam feels confident that good pitching beats good hitting. Ben thinks both players would put up league average batting/pitching lines. * Ben's favorite batter/pitcher matchup is Enrique Wilson vs. Pedro Martinez. Wilson was 11-25 in 27 plate appearances and hit .440/.462/.600 in the regular season. * Sam's favorite matchup is Sergio Romo vs. Rickie Weeks. Rickie weeks has struck out swinging in all 6 of his plate appearances against Romo. He has never made contact. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 246: Anniversary Episode Emails Category:Episodes Category:Guest Episodes Category:Email Episodes